Pasadena Lawn Bowling Club leader Hugo Sahlein dies at 87

6-26-10 -- BOWLS #1 -- MICHAEL HAERING -- PCITY
Hugo Sahlein, president of the Pasadena Lawn Bowling Club, discusses the game at the green in Pasadena's Central Park.
Club will celebrate its 75th year June 30, 1996.

Friends and family knew Hugo Sahlein as the man with the even temper and friendly demeanor, coworkers knew him as the problem solver and Pasadenans knew him as the good Samaritan and, of course, the lawn bowler.

Sahlein died Thursday after a long illness. He was 87.

“He was an outstanding leader, he was just a natural person that people respected and listened to his opinion,” said Donald Deise, a member of the Pasadena Lawn Bowling Club, of which Sahlein was president more than once. “He was a very gracious, cordial individual, he was kind of old fashioned in that way.”

Sahlein was a member and leader in the Lawn Bowling Club both in Pasadena and on the regional level for 20 years, and many credit his leadership for the club’s surge in membership.

Sahlein immigrated to the United States as a small child when his parents moved from Sweden. He grew up in Mississippi, joined the Marine Corps after high school graduation and served in World War II.

After his military service, Sahlein earned an undergraduate degree in psychology and graduate degrees in engineering and psychology from San Diego State University. Later he was recruited by Ford Aerospace and Communication Corp., where he worked until he retired in 1981. During his time with Ford he traveled across the nation and the globe for his work, including just missing the embassy takeover in Iran by one day, and spent much of his time as the manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Once retired, Sahlein focused on contributing to Pasadena through the Lawn Bowling Club, his homeowners’ association and other city programs.

“He really liked Pasadena, he really loved this city,” said his wife, Rita Sahlein, who is a local realtor with Sotheby’s.

Another of Sahlein’s passions, his wife said, was music. She played in a band and her husband would always come to her performances and dance. The couple had regular seats at the Hollywood Bowl and the Pasadena Playhouse.

“He loved jazz, everything of that type, and we went to all kinds of jazz concerts,” Rita Sahlein said. “He always said music can fill up your soul.”

From his appreciation of the arts to his dedicated leadership to his friendly demeanor, with Sahlein’s death the community has lost a one-of-a-kind gentleman, said Sahlein’s close friend Charles Hall, who played in the band with Rita Sahlein.

“He’s probably one of the finest men I’ve ever met,” Hall said. “He added to everyone’s life. He was just somebody you liked to be around.”